NYC Taxi Lost and Found?
July 1, 2004 7:11 AM Subscribe
Lost and Found for NYC cabs? Is there such a thing? I'm quite sure that on the ride back from JFK, the cushions ate my favorite key chain.
If you have your receipt, it will list the medallion number. If you have the medallion number you can find the cabbie. If you call the taxi and limousine commission they'll set you up.
posted by xammerboy at 7:47 AM on July 1, 2004
posted by xammerboy at 7:47 AM on July 1, 2004
Anytime you have a question like this, you can call 311. It's been very helpful in the past.
posted by o2b at 11:11 AM on July 1, 2004
posted by o2b at 11:11 AM on July 1, 2004
If you lose a phone, make sure the battery is fully charged before you do. I lost a phone in a cab recently. Before I shut it off, I called it ten times from another number. The cabbie picked it up the next morning, saw a bunch of calls from that number, and called me. I got the phone back that evening.
This would not have been possible if the battery had run out.
posted by Caviar at 5:50 AM on July 2, 2004
This would not have been possible if the battery had run out.
posted by Caviar at 5:50 AM on July 2, 2004
Yeah.
Keep that cellphone battery charged. A dead phone is about as easily returned to its owner as an umbrella.
No ID on an item, it gets turned over to my garage. Then the garage sits around and waits for the TLC to contact them. All the info that's needed is a description, approximate time of loss, and the medallion number of the taxi.
They've got a pretty nice stash of stuff at the garage, I hear.
The designated police precinct system for taxi drivers to drop off lost stuff is a hassle. Time, paperwork, glowering cops. We'd rather deal with dispatchers who just make it disappear with a shrug, like magic. Opacity is everyone's friend in these kind of awkward "I don't know what to dooooo with this widget-thingamabob-you-take-it" situations.
One night I found a set of keys in the back of my taxi at the end of the shift. I forgot to turn them in. The next day when I arrived at the garage, the dispatcher asked me if I had found some keys... So the system can work; take your receipt, and you get a chance.
However, I also suspect some people of taking things of value they may find in taxis. Hell, if they can unscrew the door lock plungers just for the hell if it, a wallet probably counts as a major coup to them. So if you leave something like that in the cab and I don't get to it first, let the grieving process begin without delay. I should perform random integrity tests, like putting a dollar in the back seat footwell and seeing what kind of answers I get when I ask if they saw a dollar I 'lost' back there.
posted by attackthetaxi at 9:44 PM on July 4, 2004
Keep that cellphone battery charged. A dead phone is about as easily returned to its owner as an umbrella.
No ID on an item, it gets turned over to my garage. Then the garage sits around and waits for the TLC to contact them. All the info that's needed is a description, approximate time of loss, and the medallion number of the taxi.
They've got a pretty nice stash of stuff at the garage, I hear.
The designated police precinct system for taxi drivers to drop off lost stuff is a hassle. Time, paperwork, glowering cops. We'd rather deal with dispatchers who just make it disappear with a shrug, like magic. Opacity is everyone's friend in these kind of awkward "I don't know what to dooooo with this widget-thingamabob-you-take-it" situations.
One night I found a set of keys in the back of my taxi at the end of the shift. I forgot to turn them in. The next day when I arrived at the garage, the dispatcher asked me if I had found some keys... So the system can work; take your receipt, and you get a chance.
However, I also suspect some people of taking things of value they may find in taxis. Hell, if they can unscrew the door lock plungers just for the hell if it, a wallet probably counts as a major coup to them. So if you leave something like that in the cab and I don't get to it first, let the grieving process begin without delay. I should perform random integrity tests, like putting a dollar in the back seat footwell and seeing what kind of answers I get when I ask if they saw a dollar I 'lost' back there.
posted by attackthetaxi at 9:44 PM on July 4, 2004
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Mo Nickels at 7:15 AM on July 1, 2004